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  <div class="section" id="using-python-on-unix-platforms">
<span id="using-on-unix"></span><h1>2. Using Python on Unix platforms<a class="headerlink" href="#using-python-on-unix-platforms" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="section" id="getting-and-installing-the-latest-version-of-python">
<h2>2.1. Getting and installing the latest version of Python<a class="headerlink" href="#getting-and-installing-the-latest-version-of-python" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="on-linux">
<h3>2.1.1. On Linux<a class="headerlink" href="#on-linux" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Python comes preinstalled on most Linux distributions, and is available as a
package on all others.  However there are certain features you might want to use
that are not available on your distro&#8217;s package.  You can easily compile the
latest version of Python from source.</p>
<p>In the event that Python doesn&#8217;t come preinstalled and isn&#8217;t in the repositories as
well, you can easily make packages for your own distro.  Have a look at the
following links:</p>
<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt><a class="reference external" href="http://www.linux.com/articles/60383">http://www.linux.com/articles/60383</a></dt>
<dd>for Debian users</dd>
<dt><a class="reference external" href="http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/suse-linux-internals/chapter35.html">http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/suse-linux-internals/chapter35.html</a></dt>
<dd>for OpenSuse users</dd>
<dt><a class="reference external" href="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/drafts/rpm-guide-en/ch-creating-rpms.html">http://docs.fedoraproject.org/drafts/rpm-guide-en/ch-creating-rpms.html</a></dt>
<dd>for Fedora users</dd>
<dt><a class="reference external" href="http://www.slackbook.org/html/package-management-making-packages.html">http://www.slackbook.org/html/package-management-making-packages.html</a></dt>
<dd>for Slackware users</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="on-freebsd-and-openbsd">
<h3>2.1.2. On FreeBSD and OpenBSD<a class="headerlink" href="#on-freebsd-and-openbsd" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><p class="first">FreeBSD users, to add the package use:</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>pkg_add -r python
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p class="first">OpenBSD users use:</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.2/packages/&lt;insert your architecture here&gt;/python-&lt;version&gt;.tgz
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>For example i386 users get the 2.5.1 version of Python using:</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.2/packages/i386/python-2.5.1p2.tgz
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="on-opensolaris">
<h3>2.1.3. On OpenSolaris<a class="headerlink" href="#on-opensolaris" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>To install the newest Python versions on OpenSolaris, install blastwave
(<a class="reference external" href="http://www.blastwave.org/howto.html">http://www.blastwave.org/howto.html</a>) and type &#8220;pkg_get -i python&#8221; at the
prompt.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="building-python">
<h2>2.2. Building Python<a class="headerlink" href="#building-python" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>If you want to compile CPython yourself, first thing you should do is get the
<a class="reference external" href="http://python.org/download/source/">source</a>. You can download either the
latest release&#8217;s source or just grab a fresh <a class="reference external" href="http://www.python.org/dev/faq/#how-do-i-get-a-checkout-of-the-repository-read-only-and-read-write">checkout</a>.</p>
<p>The build process consists the usual</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>./configure
make
make install
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>invocations. Configuration options and caveats for specific Unix platforms are
extensively documented in the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">README</span></tt> file in the root of the Python
source tree.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last"><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">install</span></tt> can overwrite or masquerade the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">python</span></tt> binary.
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">altinstall</span></tt> is therefore recommended instead of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">install</span></tt>
since it only installs <tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">exec_prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/bin/python</span><em><span class="pre">version</span></em></tt>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="python-related-paths-and-files">
<h2>2.3. Python-related paths and files<a class="headerlink" href="#python-related-paths-and-files" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>These are subject to difference depending on local installation conventions;
<span class="target" id="index-1103"></span><strong class="xref">prefix</strong> (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">${prefix}</span></tt>) and <span class="target" id="index-1104"></span><strong class="xref">exec_prefix</strong> (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">${exec_prefix}</span></tt>)
are installation-dependent and should be interpreted as for GNU software; they
may be the same.</p>
<p>For example, on most Linux systems, the default for both is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/usr</span></tt>.</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="53%" />
<col width="47%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">File/directory</th>
<th class="head">Meaning</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">exec_prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/bin/python</span></tt></td>
<td>Recommended location of the interpreter.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/lib/python</span><em><span class="pre">version</span></em></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">exec_prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/lib/python</span><em><span class="pre">version</span></em></tt></td>
<td>Recommended locations of the directories
containing the standard modules.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/include/python</span><em><span class="pre">version</span></em></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">exec_prefix</span></em><span class="pre">/include/python</span><em><span class="pre">version</span></em></tt></td>
<td>Recommended locations of the directories
containing the include files needed for
developing Python extensions and
embedding the interpreter.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.pythonrc.py</span></tt></td>
<td>User-specific initialization file loaded
by the user module; not used by default
or by most applications.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="miscellaneous">
<h2>2.4. Miscellaneous<a class="headerlink" href="#miscellaneous" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>To easily use Python scripts on Unix, you need to make them executable,
e.g. with</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>$ chmod +x script
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>and put an appropriate Shebang line at the top of the script.  A good choice is
usually</p>
<div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>#!/usr/bin/env python
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>which searches for the Python interpreter in the whole <span class="target" id="index-1105"></span><strong class="xref">PATH</strong>.  However,
some Unices may not have the <strong>env</strong> command, so you may need to hardcode
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/usr/bin/python</span></tt> as the interpreter path.</p>
<p>To use shell commands in your python scripts, look at the <a title="Subprocess management." class="reference external" href="../library/subprocess.html#module-subprocess"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">subprocess</span></tt></a> module.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="editors">
<h2>2.5. Editors<a class="headerlink" href="#editors" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Vim and Emacs are excellent editors which support Python very well.  For more
information on how to code in python in these editors, look at:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=790">http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=790</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/python-mode">http://sourceforge.net/projects/python-mode</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Geany is an excellent IDE with support for a lot of languages. For more
information, read: <a class="reference external" href="http://geany.uvena.de/">http://geany.uvena.de/</a></p>
<p>Komodo edit is another extremely good IDE.  It also has support for a lot of
languages. For more information, read:
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.activestate.com/store/productdetail.aspx?prdGuid=20f4ed15-6684-4118-a78b-d37ff4058c5f">http://www.activestate.com/store/productdetail.aspx?prdGuid=20f4ed15-6684-4118-a78b-d37ff4058c5f</a></p>
</div>
</div>


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            <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
            <ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="">2. Using Python on Unix platforms</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#getting-and-installing-the-latest-version-of-python">2.1. Getting and installing the latest version of Python</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#on-linux">2.1.1. On Linux</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#on-freebsd-and-openbsd">2.1.2. On FreeBSD and OpenBSD</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#on-opensolaris">2.1.3. On OpenSolaris</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#building-python">2.2. Building Python</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#python-related-paths-and-files">2.3. Python-related paths and files</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#miscellaneous">2.4. Miscellaneous</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#editors">2.5. Editors</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

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